Page 2 of Sinner

“No. No! Run.”The girls scattered, running in all directions. Typical, but at least they hadn’t tripped. Whoops.

There went one, her face pitched into the thorns. Ouch. That had to hurt. I almost laughed at the ridiculousness, but my enjoyment was still eight out of ten.

And my scale was tough.

I shifted forward, my pulse increasing just as he caught one of them around the throat, lifting her several feet off the ground.

“Oh, God,” Stephanie moaned from beside me.

The monster held up the butcher knife, his entire body arched as if hit by a bolt of lightning. He brought the sharp blade down into the girl’s face, yanking it out immediately afterwards, the moonlight reflecting across the blade’s bloodied surface. And the murderous beast thrust it down again. And again.

And again.

Screams pounded the room, several people jumping as they shrieked.

When the killer immediately turned toward the other two girls, I was certain Ashley might faint. The brutal beast wasn’t any nicer to the others either, almost cutting one girl in half.

I sat back in the theater seat, still munching on popcorn. My besties had given up struggling to keep down the goodies when the anti-hero in the movie had used a chainsaw on one of the guys.

Ashley suddenly clawed my arm, digging her sharp nails into my skin.

“How can you stand this?” Stephanie moaned.

I giggled. Because the vicious violence sparked and fed the twisted depths of my soul.

With blood covering every inch of him, the serial killer headed deeper into the forest.

Yet he would kill again.

And again.

When the movie ended only a few minutes later, Stephanie hissed at the screen. “What kind of shitty ending was that? Shouldn’t he be arrested? Hell, no, the fucker should have his arms and legs cut off very slowly with a rusty blade. Yeah. That’s what he deserves. Then maybe the girls aren’t really dead and they can be healed. Imagine doctors falling in love with them.”

Ashley choked on her Diet Coke.

I leaned all the way forward in the seat, cocking my head in her direction. “You do realize this is a horror movie and that there are never happy-ever-afters in them. Right?”

Stephanie was genuinely pissed, jerking to her feet. “I don’t give a shit. That was no ending.”

“It just means there’s going to be a sequel,” Ashley insisted.

“It’s an entire series. You know that.” Sighing, I rose to my feet. Both my friends were sweating. We certainly didn’t have the same tastes in movies and undoubtedly in men by a long shot. “Come on. It’s late.” Very late. I checked my watch as the credits continued to roll, and the lights slowly began to fill the theater.

It was well after midnight. At least it was Saturday night, so I’d have a chance to sleep in the next day. The entire crowd of people had managed to jump up from their seats, heading toward the exit before we had a chance. What were they afraid of? The boogeyman?

I chuckled from the thought. At least I’d gotten a few pointers I could use in my designs at work. That was worth sitting through the cheap thrills.

As we lagged behind the remaining crowd, I rolled through the special effects in my mind.

“Well, I loved it,” I told them both. “In a professional way, of course.”

“You would. You’re kind of creepy like that,” Stephanie teased.

I slapped her arm. “I’m not creepy. I told you this was for research.”

“Great,” Ashley groaned. “As if I want to play a video game where a man in a creeper mask chases me around with a big knife.”

“They’re virtual reality games, darling,” I told her.

---